


Jishin

by HM (HyperMint)



Category: Stargate Atlantis
Genre: Friendship, Gen, Male-Female Friendship
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-07-12
Updated: 2016-07-12
Packaged: 2018-07-23 13:04:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,600
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7464342
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HyperMint/pseuds/HM
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In the five plus years that Atlantis has been operational, great strides have been taken to make Her citizens feel more at home with each passing day. At this point, every single one of the City's personnel has come up with a reasonable condition that has been met in regards to making their unique surroundings more like home. But some things just can't be replicated in a lab or controlled environment.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Jishin

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: Not mine. I just wanted to try an idea.

**Fandom:** Stargate Atlantis

**Title** : Jishin

**Summary** : In the five plus years that Atlantis has been operational, great strides have been taken to make Her citizens feel more at home with each passing day. At this point, every single one of the City's personnel has come up with a reasonable condition that has been met in regards to making their unique surroundings more like home. But some things just can't be replicated in a lab or controlled environment.

**Characters** : Miko Kusanagi, John Sheppard, Rodney McKay (briefly)

* **

The year after Atlantis returned to Pegasus was actually sort of anticlimactic.

After the Wraith was decimated to a severe degree, the threat was actually diminished quite a bit. The City had found a planet that wasn't as dangerous as the last one and there were regular visits to the Mainland for both personal and professional reasons, creating ample opportunity for pilots like City Military Commander Colonel John Sheppard to log in flight hours and training for new pilots.

Every other team - or every other mission, in Team One's case - was almost certain to run into trouble from a variety of origins not limited to unknown allergies or what eventually turned out to be a storm to make Hurricane Katrina proud ("Small rainstorm my _ass_!" McKay spluttered in the midst of the chaos. Which was more or less John's reaction once winds surpassed 100 mph), but the deaths and those MIA were decreasing more and more. New personnel were more likely to come back traumatized as opposed to in pieces and City Civilian Commander Richard Woolsey had even upped his own off-world visits by 20% compared to the same time last year. Or last year combined. Period.

In all honesty, missions were mostly geared toward strengthening bonds with allies more than anything else and helping potential ones in gradual contact.

So, to say the least, things were vastly improved in Pegasus.

It was Earth in the Milky Way that was rocked when Her strongest earthquake hit Japan the March directly following the City's departure.

Out of the thousands of personnel, there were maybe about ten to twenty Japanese nationals and John heard of roughly half being affected before he did another run to the Mainland. There were plans being put in place to get the affected back to Earth as soon as possible.

John had pretty much given the green light for any of his people to hop on the plans should they give him the appropriate documentation - I.e. Emails or letters - showing personal connections to the tragedy and left his Second in charge to compress information for him.

He released a sigh as he and his group of ten others launched into the calming blue sky and Atlantis was dropping away from them within seconds as he allowed himself to relax into his task of flying, all the while aware that his three Asian charges seemed to discuss whether they were going back home or not.

It would probably be quiet for the first week until everyone got back into the working mindset, hopefully nothing important blew up while the affected personnel were gone. John knew that some might very well decide to transfer back to Earth and he was very much in support of it if that was what needed to happen.

And if someone decided to kick up a fuss about it, he and Woolsey - and possibly Teyla and Ronon - would be happy to, ahem, 'persuade' them that it was the right course of action. It wasn't like anyone was completely heartless or anything, right?

And the Expedition leaders, more than anyone else, knew how important it was to connect to loved ones so if anyone wanted to go, they would be able to come back on their own terms.

The rest of his group were subdued in light of hearing the news and John could tell they were trying to come off as supportive and achieving that to varying degrees of success. Luckily, John hadn't had to really comfort anyone and he'd escaped the first opportunity he could get.

The three Asians of undetermined origins didn't look in need of comforting, but his group were all guys anyway with the girls all clustering around those percieved as more in need of their services and John thanked whoever watched over those in Pegasus of that being the case.

It was really just him and the flight for long minutes of silence, no words really needed until he landed a bit away from the beach and told his two Marines to keep an eye on things while he checked out the area.

He didn't wander far from the group, but far enough away from them that he could almost believe he was alone. In a way, he was happy about that.

The landscape around him was quiet with a slight breeze rustling the small leaves overhead. It could technically be considered late spring on this new Lantea and John let his weapon dangle against him to stretch. He could almost believe that he was back in Virginia, on a beach holiday with waves lapping gently nearby as he hiked one of many park trails.

Even some of the flowers around here looked like those found in North America and, if one ignored the night sky and two moons, he could so easily be back on Earth during a short break.

After actually leaving Earth, John easily made the transition because of the similarities he and a vast majority of others found between their home world and Pegasus and it made being here so much easier to the point that John honestly saw Pegasus as his new home and Atlantis in particular. It wasn't like he'd had much actually tying him to Earth, anyway, what with adapting to the Air Force and his constant travel for one reason or other. A lot of the others had been homesick until they re-established connections with Earth and the Supply Runs were heaven sent according to the homesick still among them. The homesickness was washing away with every lap of the waves, however, to the point where personnel coming back from Earth would remark how different they had felt and that they were glad to be back home.

Because, that was what Atlantis and Pegasus now was. Home.

The Leaders and Department Heads had done everything they could think of to accomodate as many as possible and they were confident that each and every one of their people missed Earth less and less the longer they stayed. Little stuffed animals came regularly for 'therapy purposes' - he was certain he saw Ronon walking around last week with a small stuffed grey bat in his dreadlocks - and they also served as reminder of all the 'familiar' animals on Earth.

Every third weekend of the month, there would be a tennis tournament or volleyball or bowling, basketball, jump rope for heaven's sake, tournament and some were held at once and outside at one of their Alpha sites with every second weekend being a football game or baseball complete with cheerleading scientists at the sidelines.

There were fully stocked activity rooms scattered throughout the City and small reading and arts rooms in between with his Second Evan Lorne leading art classes on alternating Sundays and one of the India nationals leading calligraphy in the meantime with Dr. Jennifer Keller helping Friday scrapbooking if she wanted.

Light yoga was now almost required in training, but there were advanced classes for those interested. Teyla, understandably, was attracted to those and would even drop in on one of the Wednesday tea blendings if she wasn't otherwise occupied.

So, yeah, Atlantis had made it possible to make it like home and now the Supply Run personnel were like part of the family as they stayed for a few days to catch up on things. One had even claimed that Atlantis was something like a vacation house she was eager to get back to and John felt good at the recognition of their efforts to make it easier for everyone he watched over.

If it was possible, they would find a way to make it happen. And every two months, a survey would go out to check morale and the overwhelmingly positive feedback made every piece of unnecessary paperwork so completely worth it.

And if there was something someone was 'earthsick' for, chances were good that something similar could be found elsewhere in Pegasus. And in the event that it wasn't, well, there was a list of those waiting for their turn to head back to Earth for a week.

There was almost literally nothing they couldn't do in regards to keeping everyone relatively happy and he was proud of that.

He himself couldn't think offhand what he missed about Earth since he couldn't actually claim to miss it, but he strived to understand others as much as possible.

He wandered along a familiar trail when his earpiece squawked.

  
_"Sheppard! Where the hell are you?!"_

"On the Mainland, Rodney, just like I told you this morning," he rolled his eyes behind his aviators. "Don't tell me something blew up already in the," he checked the time, "little over an hour since I left."

_"... oh. Well... when are you coming back?"_

  
"In about another hour. Why? Should I hurry?"

_"Well... it's not exactly a life or death situation, so... but don't take too long!"_

"Is there any particular reason why?"

_"Oh, for... okay, look. You know Kusanagi, right?"_

"Not well, but yeah."

_"Okay. And you know she's Japanese. Well, me and Radek told her that she could go if she wanted to, but she didn't act like she was being affected! Shouldn't she want to be close to her country or something? I don't know. Isn't there some kind of culture thing she should be doing?"_

John blinked. "Have you asked her about it?"

_"Of course we have! She still said no."_

"Well, there you go. Sure, she's Japanese, but that doesn't mean she has to actually go. She could be waiting for things to die down or something."

_"And three weeks plus won't be enough time? She should go be with her people, right? I mean, her close people. Friends, family. Why isn't she thinking about them?"_

John shrugged to himself as he kept going. "There might be personal reasons for it. Leave her alone, Rodney. If she decides to change her mind, she's still welcome to go. The offer's still on the table. Doesn't mean she actually has to take it."

_"But it's just not... not normal, I guess. Jennifer seems a little worried, too."_

"So, have her talk to her."

_"But that's why I'm calling you! Jennifer didn't have any luck, either, and Teyla's on vacation and you're the only one left I can think of."_

"What?" he stopped walking with a furrowed brow. "What do I have to do with anything?"

" _You talk to her. And yes, I know that you don't really know her very well and aren't buddy-buddy with her, but you can convince people not to kill us, so I'm counting on you to convince her to go home!"_

"McKay," he sighed, shaking his head before continuing on. "Look, just give her the rest of the day to really think about it so it can sink in more. We just learned about it yesterday during that data stream, remember? It's probably still sinking in. And the Prometheus isn't even here yet. It did, after all, leave almost two weeks ago, now."

_"Right. Yes. No, I see. Probably just the shock, right? Right. Okay. No, you're right. It's shock."_

"And probably fear, too," John added. He'd seen the aftermath of Indonesia and reports said that Japan looked worse, so it was natural to assume that she was anxious about seeing her home post-tsunami. To be honest, he wasn't completely sure that she would choose to go after all and there was no shame in that, either.

If it had been him, he wasn't sure he would go back, either.

_"So we just give it time to sink in and then ask her when it does,"_ Rodney seemed to be calming down into his usual uncertain tone when dealing with emotional situations. John wasn't good with those, either, but it helped to have some kind of direction to send McKay toward so needs must.

John reassured him that Miko just needed to really think about her decision and Rodney signed off with satisfaction.

Heaving a sigh, John checked in with his group and kept walking for five more minutes on the trail he'd found not long after landing the City on New Lantea II. It had been overgrown, but the trail had obviously been present enough for him to follow it to its stunning end and he was never more glad he had than in this moment.

The trail crested a small hill that overlooked the water curtained by trees and underbrush on either side. Following the trail to the left would lead him down a few steps before he found himself on an outcropping of rocks that jutted out slightly into the surf a good few miles below him. Slightly above and to the side, part of some sort of mountain or rock formation had several decades' worth of growth on it which provided shelter for the hollowed out space reaching a few feet underneath. The large flat rock had proved an excellent spot for him to just relax for a few minutes as he had an unimpeded view of sky and surf and he leaned against his usual spot near the edge to do just that.

His hazel eyes fell to the small rock a few feet from his foot and a smile flitted over his face as he found that the possibly one other person who had found this place had moved it back into the square he'd left it out of the last time he was here.

After his discovery of his little hideaway, he'd eventually come to find that at least one other person had found it, too. It was just little signs, like the rest of the rock having been laboriously cleaned through several visits and him leaving snacks that disappeared on his next visit to be replaced by other snacks and finally the 'rock/square' thing came up with his presumed 'rockmate' having moved a rock outside a square grouping of sticks.

Every time one of them visited the rock outcropping, they would move the small rock in or out of the square and he felt like someone was with him every time he looked at the small set up. It was more comforting than an intrusion and he would get worried when the other didn't move it after a few visits. He'd never thought to expose the other visitor and he was certain they hadn't found him, because he felt that being anonymous was a comfort in and of itself, but should he happen upon the other, nothing would change.

A part of him hoped he never found the other, but he also hoped that he didn't find out when someone died and the rock stopped moving.

But that wasn't to be on this visit since the rock had moved and John sat for a few minutes to let the chaos slip from his shoulders until he felt more settled and moved the small rock back out of the square for the other to fix before leaving his small spot and returning to the others for the ride back.

* **

TBC Friday or sooner...


End file.
